MikeLigalig.com

RAINIER ALLAN RONDA
The Philippine Star

Lawyers of the more than 9,000 human rights victims during the Martial Law era have asked the United National Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) to impose interest of as much as $413 million against the Philippine government for its continued delay in paying the $1.9-billion compensation awarded to them by a US district court more than 10 years ago.

In an eight-page motion filed before the UN Human Rights Committee last Oct. 1, Atty. Rodrigo Domingo, Jr., and his American co-counsels Robert Swift, Sherry Broder and Jon Van Dyke petitioned the international body to declare the Philippine government "in default" and award the human rights victims of the late deposed President Marcos additional compensation of $413,512,296 as "simple interest."

"The action to enforce class judgment has languished in the regional trial court of Makati following remand of the case in March 2005. It was not until last month, September 2007, that the court determined, per motion for reconsideration, that service of the complaint on the defendant estate in 1997 was proper," the motion read in part.

"Accordingly, complainants request that this committee declare the Republic (of the Philippines) in default and award complainants and the class specific compensation," the claimants petitioned.

The petition was the second petition filed by the group before the Geneva-based body formed by the signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The group filed a petition before the same UN body on Oct. 11, 2004 asking that the Republic of the Philippines and the Supreme Court be declared as violators of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

They also asked the body to order the Philippine government to take immediate action and enforce the ruling of a US Hawaiian district court awarding the human rights victims $1.9 billion in compensation.

It will be recalled that the UN Human Rights Commission, in a decision last March 19, had faulted the Philippine courts, including the Makati City Regional Trial Court and the Supreme Court, for eight years of delay in handling the decision of cases involving Marcos human rights victims.

The human rights victims are waging a campaign to win a favorable judgment of a US District Court in Hawaii awarding them and their heirs $1,964,005,859.

The victims filed a petition for the enforcement of the ruling before the Makati City Regional Trial Court on May 20, 1997 but the latter rejected the claim until there was payment of a filing fee of $8.4 million or equivalent then to P472 million.

After a motion for reconsideration and the elevation of the matter to the Supreme Court, the victims won in September 2005 when the Supreme Court reversed the Makati RTC ruling on the filing fee, setting it at only $7.2 million or P400 million.

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